Evening Star
by Twilight4886
Summary: Takes place after Edward leaves Bella in New Moon. Bella is now almost 23 years old and had moved to West Virginia after going to college to become an English teacher. She finds out Edward and his family are at the same school and she is now his teacher.
1. FIRST DAY

All rights, characters, and properties belong to Stephenie Meyer as she is the wonderful author of the Twilight series. This is merely fanfiction created to entertain my own imagination put into words for others to read and hopefully enjoy.

BTW: I was inspired to write this after reading something similar here on and I can't remember the author who wrote it, but once I do I will amend my disclaimer to add their user penname so that they can have credit for sparking my imagination to write this story.

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1. FIRST DAY

I woke with a start to the annoying sound of my incessantly buzzing alarm clock. I rolled to side of the bed where my night stand held the increasingly aggravating clock and groggily opened my eyes. It was 5:30 AM. With much reluctance, I threw off the warm covers of my bed and turned the alarm off. I forced myself up to greet the start of a new day. The dull gray light filtered through my window and I stifled a yawn as I shuffled to my closet to get ready for my first day of work.

As I passed by my dresser mirror, I and stopped as I caught myself in the reflection. I was 22 years old and not much has changed from my more youthful teenage years. I still had deep brown chocolate eyes and dark brown wavy hair that had, by some miracle, managed to tame itself over the years. My skin was still slightly pale, but my body had since filled out to give me the curves of a woman, no longer the awkwardness of my adolescence.

It has been close to 4 years now since moving from Forks, Washington and finally starting my life again. Those years were the hardest years of my life because those were the years I had been changed and could never go back. Those were the years my one and only love had left me and never to return. It was especially difficult my last year of high school at Forks. I was practically a living zombie. Days seemed meaningless and months flew by with no significance at all. I had, however, managed to break out of the zombie-like state I had been living in and found in Jacob Black my shining sun. We have remained good friends, despite his intentions of something more between us.

After high school, I moved to Michigan to go to college to study to become an English Literature teacher. Living in dorms and making new friends helped to ease the pain of the ever constant hole in my chest, but could never fill it as Edw-…as _he_ once did. Even to this day it hurt thinking _his_ name and the way he had changed me forever. I learned to move through my life without _him_, but could never move on.

I now found myself living in a small one bedroom house I had just recently moved into in the little town of Elkins, West Virginia. I moved here after getting hired on to be the new English Literature teacher at Elkins High School. Today would be my first day at a new school, only this time I would no longer be the new student, but the new teacher.

I opened my closet to look for something to wear. It is an unspoken "tradition" to dress-up nice the first day of school and I had begrudgingly bought an outfit I thought would be appropriate for the occasion. I grab for the dark slate gray pencil skirt and the white puff sleeve button-up blouse with the white camisole next to it. I lightly chuckled to myself as I thought how I, of all people, would now conform to the look of the stereotypical teacher with the stereotypical knee-length pencil skirt and white button-up. I had always been anything but typical, but I wanted my first day to go off smoothly and to just blend in like all the other teachers.

I dressed quickly and threw on my pair of dark grey heels while brushing through my almost already styled hair. Again I was thankful that it didn't take much for me nowadays to get my hair to look presentable. I fixed my hair up into a loose updo and pinned the curls in place hoping that it would be enough to get me though the day. I never bothered with make-up normally, but for the sake of making a good impression I put on a little eyeliner, lipstick, and mascara. I wanted to look just as simple as I could, not wanting to look overdone.

Within a matter of a half hour I was ready. I walked into the kitchen and reached for a bowl and a box of cereal for breakfast. Some things just never change and breakfast was certainly one of them. As I sat eating, I looked outside and assessed the weather. It was looking slightly warm but still cloudy enough that the sun's rays would stay hidden beneath the cloud cover. It seemed my love for the sun had diminished since living in Phoenix with my mother oh so long ago. I had learned to enjoy the coolness of northern United States and embraced the small town lifestyle. I pondered just how much of _him_ made me appreciate these things that I at one time had taken for granted. I sighed and realized I had only eaten very little of the cereal I had poured into my bowl. I got up from the kitchen table and poured the rest down the sink as I looked out of the window. Today was just another day without him, another day to move through.

I finished up my morning routine of washing the cereal bowl and grabbed for my laptop briefcase on the counter and shoved in my laptop computer and any other essentials that I felt I would need for the first day of school. I grabbed my keys from the key rack and hurried to my car, yet another thing that had changed, and put my stuff in on the passenger side seat. I no longer drove my old rusted '53 Chevy truck. It had since been decommissioned by Charlie and in its place he had bought me a 1987 Honda Civic for my college graduation. It still reminded me of my truck though, with its old rust color and antique look about it. I would never have the latest and greatest vehicles nor would I ever want to. _Who needed a new '08 when a '87 was perfect for my needs? Certainly not me._

I drove the short distance to the high school and pulled into the parking lot. It didn't take long to find a suitable parking place since teachers' parking had its own designated area. I got out and went around to the other side to get my things. I paused just long enough to look in my right-side mirror to make sure I still looked presentable and then walked to the front of the campus and through the front doors of the school.

I knew my way around the campus already, having been here about a week ago to adjust myself to my new surroundings and to organize my classroom as I saw fit. I slowly walked down the long locker halls to my classroom, room 214, and used my key to open the door. It was just the way I had left it. I walked down between the aisles of desks toward the front of the classroom to my desk and set my stuff on top of it. My hand lightly grazed the deep rich mahogany desk and I took a deep breath and let it out. This was now my classroom. This was now my new home away from home. I hadn't changed much of the classroom from how it had previously been set up, but I had added little touches here and there to make it my own.

I surveyed the room and went to open up the two windows on the right side of the classroom to let in some fresh air. Breathing in the fresh crisp air filled my lungs and cleared my head a bit. I turned around to once again appraise my classroom. Looking toward my desk, my eyes fell upon the blank blackboard behind it. Something seemed like it was missing and I racked my brain to try to figure out what. Then I realized what that something was and made my way over to the board. I picked up one of the black markers and wrote in big letters "Welcome Back to School!" and today's date in the left hand corner of the board "August 26, 2008" I looked again and crinkled my nose. Something still was missing, and that's when it hit me, I was the new teacher at school and was sure no one would know my name so underneath the big, bold "Welcome Back to School!" I wrote my name "Ms. Swan". A small smile lighted my face as I snapped the cap back on the marker and turned to rest my hands on my desk as I looked out into the sea of vacant desks in front of me.

I stepped out of my classroom closing the door behind me and headed in the direction of the school's main office. On my way to the office, I passed by several students mulling around in the hallways checking the big orange posted signs directing them to their homeroom where they would be receiving their assigned school schedules for this fall semester. I felt more and more confident as I walked pass them as their heads turned to judge the appearance of the new teacher. I was no longer the average looking high school student, but was confident that I now exuded the poise of a serious young adult teacher. I had always had a much more mature personality even in high school, but now at least my body fit better to that of my mental age.

The main office was slightly crowded with students, as I'm sure was typical for a first day of school. I ambled over to the attendance office clerk's desk to pick up my class rosters.

"Morning Ms. Swan" the older women cheerfully called out as I came closer. "Here are all your classroom attendance rosters for this week. Just made sure to tear off the edge each day and put it in the clip outside your classroom so an office student aide can come by and pick it up at the beginning of each period."

She handed me the stack of official school-looking papers and proceeded to further instruct me on how to fill in the scantron bubble next to the name of the student if they were absent.

"Thank you again Mrs. Harper" I said as I flashed her a quick smile before turning back to once again shuffle through the crowded office area.

Back in the confines of my classroom I began organizing myself to get ready for my first period class. I, luckily, was exempt from getting to be a homeroom and having to pass out the new schedules to students and therefore had this opportunity of having a half hour of free time to fully prepare myself. I kept checking the clock every few minutes as the nerves inside me began to build up. I was excited at the responsibility of finally being a teacher, but at the same time anxious beyond belief. I smirked at that thought that maybe some unexpectedly kind student would come through the door to give me a bright red apple to place on my desk to initiate my days to come as their teacher. But who ever does that anymore? I laughed to myself and checked the clock again.

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Hope you like it thus far. I am writing the third chapter wirte now and will upload the second one tomorrow so as not to overwhelm you will too many chapters at a time...Please review!


	2. APPLE

All rights, characters, and properties belong to Stephenie Meyer as she is the wonderful author of the Twilight series. This is merely fanfiction created to entertain my own imagination put into words for others to read and hopefully enjoy.

BTW: Sorry for some of my typos in the first chapter and maybe in this one as well I will try to go back and correct them as I see them. Not that I expect anyone to go back and read it all again, but just for the future readers I suppose. Also I am thinking of changing the name of the story since I kind of came up with the current one in a rush. Any suggestions? Thanks again for all the reviews and adding me to your author alerts!

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2. APPLE

The bell rang making me jump slightly and alerting me that my first period class would soon be filing in to take their seats for the start of class. I could hear the wave of sounds of classroom doors opening and the noise of students talking and laughing as they made their way to their designated first period classrooms. I stood anxiously behind my desk for their initial arrival. A few minutes had passed before the first student walked through the classroom door. I greeted him with a smile and politely indicated for him to choose whichever seat he wanted. Soon more and more broke from the wake of students in the hallway to enter the room laughing and saying their goodbyes to friends in a rush.

Looking over my first period roster, I saw that there were to be 18 students assigned to this 11th grade English Literature class for this semester. I quickly counted the seats to be sure that we would have enough desks available for all those still arriving. There were five rows of desks. Luckily I had more than enough available with four desks per row. I quickly scanned the rest of my rosters to be sure there would be no more than 20 students per class. I breathed a glad sigh of relief when I discovered that I wouldn't have to chase down the school janitor during my lunch break for to ask for more desks.

The school bell rang again, this time signaling that the students should be in class and that any early morning slackers should hurry to class or be marked late. As the students took their seats, I walked to the front of my desk and leaned back on it to evaluate the now full sea of desks in front of me. My eyes wandered up and down the aisles to each new face.

"Welcome to English Literature. I am your new teacher Ms. Swan" I smiled to myself.

I stood up straight and walked around back behind my desk and picked up the attendance roster. "This is the 11th grade English Literature class. I will go through the attendance roster in a few minutes and call out your names. Please raise your hand and say 'here' so that I don't mark you absent. I'm sorry if I end up mispronouncing your name, let me know if I do so, so that I make sure not to do it again in the future. Also, if there is another name you would like to go by let me know at that time so that I can write it down. After attendance is taken I will go over this semesters course outline with you and then we will go around the room and get to learn one another better. How does that sound?" I let out a sigh of relief when the general consensus of the class was in agreement or still too tired, from waking up early, to care.

My first and second classes went by smoothly and I was beginning to feel ridiculous that I had ever been so anxious at all to begin with. With the first two classes out of the way now, I felt I was finally getting into the groove of things and the repetitive speech each time I recited my brief introduction and story of where I was from, how I came about becoming an English Literature teacher, and my expectations of them for this semester. Each time though when I talked about my life in Forks, Washington I felt a pain on the edges of the hole in my chest and quickly rushed through the rest in hopes of not betraying my still fresh 4 year-wound. Most of the students seemed as interested in learning about me as I did about them. I could already begin to tell, just by where each student sat, what the level of their enthusiasm to succeed in this course would be. It had been something I learned during my time as a student teacher in Michigan that the students with more desire to learn sat closer to the front while those who would rather just get through the class would tend to drift toward the back. It was those students in the back that I was most hoping to reach out to this semester to help them to better understand the stories and lessons in life that literature taught us. Granted I knew not everyone would be oh-so-willing to embrace my grandiose philosophy on literature, but I figured it was worth a shot.

In between second and third period there was a morning break in which the students and staff were able to use the cafeteria and outside benches in the quad area for a nutritional snack. Although, most students did not use this time to eat at all but instead used this 15 minute allotted time to catch up on the newest gossip, while most of the staff, on the other hand, used it to regroup in the Teacher's Lounge to mull over the current student-related dilemmas. During that time, however, I choose to stay alone in my classroom and decided to look over the haphazard seating charts I had attempted to make on the now slightly crinkled sheets of scratch paper. I had had the students pass around the papers and sign their name in on the quickly drawn chart I made earlier that morning. In my mind I was trying to put the faces to the names I now saw scribbled on sheets of paper so that I could better familiarize myself with each individual student. There were very few faces at this point that really seemed to jump out at me, but I knew in time I would recognize each face and each named that walked through the door and into my classroom.

The morning break was drawing to an end and the bell rang to indicate that the short-lived break was now over. I readjusted my appearance to make sure I was still as orderly looking as I had been earlier. I knew, subconsciously, that nothing drastic had happened in order to alter my appearance within the 3 hours I had been here, but none the less I checked to make sure nothing was disheveled.

_Breathe Bella, you know there is nothing to be nervous about you're acting childish!_ I told myself as a low chuckle escaped my lips.

I once again, for the third time today, made my way to the front of my desk and leaned back on it to welcome my new students that were slowly trickling into the classroom and finding their seats. Just then, I remembered I needed to grab the attendance roster that was behind me and twisted around from my waist to reach for it. I grabbed in and turned back around. I looked up to see that most of the students had taken their seats and then saw the last two students stroll into the room. The attendance roster in my hand floated down to the floor as I saw before me a tiny beautiful girl with short spiky black hair and pale skin gracefully skip to the front of the classroom with the brightest red apple I have ever seen in her hands. She deposited the apple into my now frozen hands and reached up to hug me.

"Good morning, Ms. Bella Swan" she giggled and placed a quick kiss on my now slack-jawed cheek.

Behind her I saw the most beautiful set of topaz eyes staring straight at me in such disbelief. I was in shock as I knew he must have been too. For there in front of me stood Alice and Edward Cullen.


	3. THE INCIDENT

All rights, characters, and properties belong to Stephenie Meyer as she is the wonderful author of the Twilight series. This is merely fanfiction created to entertain my own imagination put into words for others to read and hopefully enjoy.

BTW: Sorry it took me so long to post this! I have been decorating my house for Christmas and got all wrapped up with Christmas shopping and looking for a job. I hope to get the next chapter up within a few days after this one! Thank again for reading! And PLEASE help me to think up a new story title. I was thinking maybe like Evening Star or Dusk or something along those lines. Let me know what you think, PLEASE! And as always I love reading your reviews!

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3. THE INCIDENT

I stared in bewilderment into his golden liquid topaz eyes for what felt like an eternity until at last the noise of the classroom shocked me back into reality. My eyes drifted down to the bright red apple that Alice had so graciously placed in my hand and disbelievingly looked back up into her overly cheerful smile as a soft "Thank you" escaped my lips.

I watched as Alice gracefully lighted her way to the back of the class pulling the still stunned Edward to one of the two empty desks left. His motions seemed practically mechanical as I saw Alice forcefully push him to sit down into the open seat. His piercing eyes never left mine as I slowly released the air in my lungs that I didn't know I had been holding until that moment. I closed my eyes hoping that when I opened them that I would sadly discover that this had all been an illusion created in my mind and that I was, in fact, suffering from some kind of sick delusion meant only to torture myself. Breathing in slow measured breathes, my heart was pounding feverishly in my chest and it felt as though at any minute it would explode.

Suddenly an unfamiliar voice filled my ears. "Are you ok Ms. Swan?" I quickly opened my eyes and became aware of the looks of concern that were emanating from the now silent classroom. I searched the sea of faces and my eyes immediately landed on his beautifully pale face and topaz eyes staring straight at me from the back of the room. It took a moment for my brain to register the question that must have come from one of the worried students now seated before me.

_Breathe Bella! Pull yourself together! _

"I-I'm fine" I managed to say while attempting to clear my throat which had become dry for some apparent reason. In that instant, I heard a stifled giggle and at once recognized it as having come from Alice. I struggled as I tried to regain my composure and calm my still racing heartbeat to a normal speed. I knew it would be near impossible for me to tear my eyes from him for even a moment, to not run up to him and throw my arms around him, but in the back of my mind my conscious brought forth the painful images from that parting fateful day.

"_Bella, I don't want you to come with me"_, my mind echoed his words back to me. He had spoken those words so slowly and precisely that it had taken me a while to even fully absorb them. I could still remember the coldness in his eyes that day. It had been him who did not love me anymore, did not want me anymore. Despite the amount of pain it still caused me, I had to respect his wishes of not wanting to be with me. I shook my head to clear it of all thoughts and resurfacing memories of Edward in hopes of making it through the rest of day and more importantly through the rest of this hour.

I took one last long sigh and pushed myself up off of the desk. I realized now that I still held Alice's apple in my hand. A small smile tugged at the corner of my lips as I set it gently down on top of my desk. I turned my head once more toward the uneasy class and began my shaky preamble.

"Welcome to English Literature. I am your new teacher Ms. Swan." My gaze swept to each set of eyes now focused on me at the front of the class. I forced my face to smile and felt my lips curve into what I hope was a convincing gesture of welcoming. "I will go through the attendance roster now and will call out each of your names. Please raise your hand and say 'here' so that I don't mark you absent. I'm sorry if I end up mispronouncing your name--" It was at about that time in my speech that I noticed the attendance roster lying on the floor a few feet in front of me. I tried to walk forward with an honest attempt now in not making a bigger fool of myself and bent over to pick up piece of paper.

Without looking up I continued on, "Let me know if I end up mispronouncing your name so that I try to make sure not to do it again next time." I straighten back up and walked around to the back side of my desk. "If there is another name you would like to go by let me know so that I can write it down in my book. After attendance is taken I will go over this semesters course outline with you and then we will go around the room in an effort get to know one another better."

I leaned my hands on the desk in order to steady my still nervous and trembling body as I began to read through the list of names on the roster. I glanced up every now and then as the students whose names I called off responded back by raising their hands listlessly in the air. A few times, as I had momentary looked up, I could see from out of the corner of my vision his still intense eyes set on me.

As I reached the C's I kept my eyes down intently on the piece of paper as I read the name "Alice Cullen". I could hear the amused tone in her voice as she chimed "Here" and lightheartedly waved her arm around and stifled another giggle behind her hand. My mind focused in on the next name as I managed to take a deep breath and forced out the words "Edward Cullen" Keeping my eyes still on his name on the roster, I heard the velvety softness of his voice as he smoothly answered "Here". It was the voice I had only ever, until now, heard in dreams. There was the same texture in his voice that my mind still clung to in those long ago memories and it sent shivers down my spine. I lifted my head slightly and felt my heart begin to melt into a warm liquid pool of goo as I saw his crooked smile aimed right at me. It seemed that he had not lost his ability to dazzle me even after all these year. I immediately scolded myself for losing focus and quickly finished through the rest of the roster all the while trying hard not to look up and once again be caught by his dazzling bright smile.

With the attendance finally done, I feebly made my way to the back of the room to post the detached slip from the roster in the clip outside the classroom door. I could hear the loud clipping my high heels made as I forced one foot in front of the other all the while keeping my mind focused on my goal. Edward just happened to be seating on the left-hand side in the middle of the last row and unfortunately along the path I was now using all my strength to get through. As I passed by him I felt my heart flutter as his head slowly turned to watch me walk the rest of the way to the door and place the strip of paper into the clip. I turned around sharply on my heel and swiftly walked passed him once more on my way back to the front of the classroom. I could feel his ever present eyes boring into the back of me.

I had almost reached my desk when it seemed out of nowhere that my adolescent clumsiness that I had never quite grown out of came at me full force. The next thing I knew I was stumbling forward. I had just managed to catch myself from falling face forward as my arm reached out to the nearest student's desk in an attempt to steady myself. I felt myself stiffen slightly as I heard the intake of gasps throughout the classroom.

"Are you alright, Ms. Swan?" exclaimed the student whose desk I had used as a crutch to break my fall. I looked over and saw the worried look present on her face and tried my best to manage a small laugh

"Yes, thanks to your desk for saving me. I am fine." I stood up and turned back to the rest of the class. I had at least managed to make it to the front of my desk trying my hardest to ignore the sharp pain I felt in my left ankle. I hoped that I hadn't done too much damage to it. I sat down on top on the sturdy mahogany wood and scooted myself back a bit until I was firmly seated.

"So I don't go tripping over myself again for the rest of class" I said with a smile in an attempt to get a laugh out of the students at my own expense. A few let out a laugh here and there and I felt relieved that at least the tension of the incident was slowly starting to fade. I looked toward Edward and saw his hands gripping his desk. Alice's hand was gently resting on his forearm in what seemed like an effort to calm him down. She shot a quick reassuring glance at me as I looked away toward the faces of the other students.

"As I'm sure you can all tell by now, I am not the most graceful of women to walk these halls." A few more laughs erupted from a group of boys to the far right corner. "As I said earlier, my name is Ms. Swan." I indicted to the board behind me. "I am the new English teacher here at Elkin High and am very excited to get to know each and every one of you seated here in my classroom today. Before I further introduce myself, I want to thank you all for bearing with me through my first day here. I assure you things will get much better as the semester goes on."

"I moved here to Elkin after graduating from Michigan State University with my Bachelors Degree in English Literature and my teaching credential. Before that I lived in a small town in Washington, which has weather much like it is here in Elkin, and before that I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. I have always had an interest in classic literature and am looking forward to hopefully imparting some of my love of reading with you all." I shifted my weight a bit on the desk and crossed my legs while keeping my skirt smoothed out. "Now if I could have a volunteer come up here to help me pass out the course outlines--" A second after the words had left my lips numerous hands eagerly shot up into the air. I took this time to look at Alice and saw that her hand had been the first to shoot up as she impatiently bounced up and down in her seat. Edward, as motionless as ever now, was still staring directly at me. He seemed to have relaxed a bit more from the last time I had seen Alice calming him, but still had a strained expression on his face.

"Miss Cullen" I called out. "Could you please come up here to help me pass out these course outlines?"

Within a matter of seconds Alice had slide out of her seat and danced her way up to take the stack of papers from my hand. She flashed me grin and winked as she turned to distribute the packets to the rest of her classmates. After she was finished, she placed the rest of the papers in a neat stack next to me on the desk and pranced back to her seat next to Edward.

The rest of class went much the same as my previous two classes had earlier that morning. I had to call on another student to help me start passing around the seating chart since it felt as though my ankle was still a bit tender from my near falling incident and I didn't want to try putting my full weight on it again just yet. When we were about halfway through the room getting to know each other better, the bell rang loudly indicating that class was over.

"See you all tomorrow. We will pick up from where we left off." I yelled over the noise of backpacks zipping up and the sounds of students that once again flooded the crowded hallway. I cautiously looked down at my ankle to try to assess the severity of damage my clumsiness had caused me.

"Stupid klutz" I mumbled lowly to myself as I slowly slid off the front of the desk to see it I could walk on it again. I winced slightly as I bit back the stinging pain that hit me as I tried to stand on it. I had suffered through much worse and was sure I would be able to make it through the last two classes I had that day. I was suddenly relieved as I remembered that I had no class for this next period and would be free to tend to my minor injury until after lunch. I had been so distracted by the rush of students leaving and my little experiment just now that I hadn't even looked up until this point to see both Edward and Alice still standing--still waiting at the back of the room.


	4. STRAIN

All rights, characters, and properties belong to Stephenie Meyer as she is the wonderful author of the Twilight series. This is merely fanfiction created to entertain my own imagination put into words for others to read and hopefully enjoy.

BTW: Sorry this chapter was kind of short. I hope to get the next chapter up this coming weekend. So hang in there with me. Thanks again for reading! Also, I love reading your reviews it inspires me to write more! So PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks!

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4. STRAIN

I was still leaning against my desk for support when the last student hurried through the door and into the hallway leaving just me, Alice, and Edward alone. I tried to avoid looking directly at him and instead focused my eyes once more to my now slightly swollen ankle. Alice was the first to break the awkward silence that filled the room. "I'm pretty sure you sprained it." I gasped as I looked up to see her now a mere foot in front of me. I also noticed that Edward still was waiting motionlessly at the back of the room.

"It's nothing really. I'll be fine Ali--Miss Cullen" I sighed having quickly corrected myself. As much as Alice had always been like a long lost sister to me, our situations were entirely different now. She was now my student, and I was her teacher. I was no longer the 18 year old girl of my past and although I knew in my heart that I was still irrevocably in love with Edward, I was almost certain he did not feel the same way about me anymore.

"Now Bella, I thought we were friends", Alice said pouting while jutting out her lower lip. "Besides, you need someone's help getting to the nurse's office. You wouldn't make it very far on your own with your foot like that."

As much as I hated to admit it, Alice was right. I knew I had to do something about my current dilemma and, unless I planned on causing further damage, I knew I would need someone to help me down the hall to the school nurse's office. Although, at the moment, the thought of hopping or even crawling along down the hallway didn't seem near as embarrassing as allowing myself to be half-carried by Alice. After much internal struggle with myself, I finally let out a small sigh of defeat. "Do I really have a choice in the matter?" I groaned.

"No. Not really," Alice said with a smirk on her face, "But I thought it only fair to give you time to think over your other oh-so appealing alternatives"

"Fine" I muttered in defeat. Alice's face instantly lit up as she stepped closer and bent down in front of me. "W-What are you doing, Alice?"

"I'm taking off your shoes for you. You didn't honestly think you were going to keep them on the rest of the day, did you?" After taking off my right shoe, Alice carefully proceeded to slip my swollen left foot out of my dark grey heel. The coolness of her hands felt good against the tenderness of my ankle. I shut my eyes tightly and winced as the motion of taking off the shoe had jostled my foot a bit. When I opened my eyes, I saw Edward was now standing on my left-hand side.

"I'll take her to the nurse Alice." The sound of his voice startled me. It had only been the second time today that I had heard him speak. I glanced over at him and saw the genuine look of concern filling his golden eyes.

_When are you going to stop trying to see something that isn't there anymore, Bella? _I mentally reprimand myself.

"Really, you guys have to do this. I can make it on my own. In fact it doesn't even hurt anymore" I lied in hopes of convincing them that I was fine. Immediately both of them shot me a suspicious look. Apparently neither of them seemed very convinced.

"Are you sure you want to take her Edward?" Alice raised her delicate eyebrow questioning him as she stood up.

"Alice, don't you think it would be a bit difficult to explain if someone saw you carrying her in your arms down the hall? You're at least half her size. I will carry her." Edward looked over at me his eyes captivating me. That's when his words finally sank in _"carry her"_.

"Oh no, no! I will not have anyone carrying me. I only agreed that I needed help getting there. I am fully capable of walking there and I refuse to be carried!" I shouted. I may be hurt, but I definitely was not a complete invalid.

Alice once again giggle, her laughs sounding like wind chimes. "Ok Edward. You're right. It would look quite strange if anyone saw me carrying her." I glared at Alice in disbelief. _Had no one heard what I had just said?_

Once again I tried to make my demands heard, but a second later Edward had swiftly scooped me up in his arms. I struggled to get out of his grip with little success. "Edw--Mr. Cullen! Put me down this instant! I'm not an invalid! I don't need to be carried!" I knew I was no match against his strength, but after a few seconds more of attempting to break away from his hold on me, I at last resolved to suffer through this embarrassing torture. I felt my cheeks redden and knew that a blush was forming across my face. "If you're going to carry me there, can you at least let me down before we get to the nurse's office?" I tried to compromise. "I don't know how receptive the rest of the administration will feel if they found out a student carried me there."

Edward sigh looked down into my face and nodded in agreement. "I will set you down just outside of the nurse's door and Alice can help you the rest of the way in." I let of a sigh of frustration. I knew that was most of a compromise I was going to get out of him.

A few minutes later, we stepped out into the hallway. Alice followed closing the classroom door behind us. It felt strangely comforting to feel the coolness of his body against mine. I had always remembered him as being colder than my own body temperature, but had forgotten just how soothing it had been. I took in a deep breath and allowed his sweet scent to fill my lungs. It seemed that over the years time had since dulled my memories of how wonderful it felt to be near him. It was a rush taking him in all at once again after so long. The hole in my chest at once felt filled as though it had never been there at all. My I kept my eyes locked on my knees though knowing that if I looked up at his face I would be entranced by his dazzling effects.

_Don't you dare think he will ever consider taking you back and things will go back to the way the once were. Remember it was he who left you. But as much as I know he will never want me back, I can't help but love him even after all I have been through. _

As always, I was thankful that I was immune to Edward's powers and that he couldn't hear the thoughts that were racing through my mind as we headed toward the nurse's office. I was also thankful that nobody had yet to bear witness to my extremely humiliating situation and that we would make it to the office unnoticed.

We had just rounded the last corner when Edward stopped in front of the wooden door clearly marked with the words "Nurse's Office". I let out a small sigh. I knew I would probably never be this close to him again. He gently set me down on my feet as Alice quickly stepped up to wrap my arm around her shoulders. Edward opened the door to the office as Alice shouldered the bulk of my weight and I reluctantly limped into the dingy-white colored office.


End file.
